Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the concept to thinking about Research Data Management (RDM). The concept of “wicked problems” seeks to differentiate very complex, intractable challenges from tamer issues where approaches to problem solving are well-understood. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on and co-authored by a collaboration of practitioners from libraries, information technology and research administration, with facilitators from the Sheffield Information School. Participants worked together in two-day-long workshops to understand the wicked problem concept and advice on leadership in wicked problem contexts. Findings – Participants concurred that RDM had many features of a wicked problem and most of Grint’s advice on leadership for wicked problems also resonated. Some elements of the issue were simple; participants were optimistic about improving the situation over time. Participants were resistant to the more negative or fatalistic connotations of the phrase “wicked problem”. Viewing RDM as a wicked problem is an interesting way of looking at it as a challenge for support professionals. Practical implications – The notion of a wicked problem is a generative concept that can be usefully added to professional vocabulary. Originality/value – The paper captures an in-depth response from practitioners to the notion of wicked problems as a lens for examining RDM.

The HHuLOA (Hull, Huddersfield, Lincoln Open Access) project is a two-year Jisc-funded project, which seeks to identify how open access (OA) support mechanisms can be used to assist with the development of research. One such area is policy landscape, which has shifted dramatically in the past two years. Many academic staff have been left confused, frustrated and stressed by new obligations placed upon long-established publishing practices and by the way in which these changes have been communicated. This paper describes the project's initial work undertaken in this area, with the aim of enabling academic audiences to better navigate the policy environment they find themselves in to comply and better understand the rights they have when using OA. Communicating the open access policy landscapeThe HHuLOA projectThe Universities of Hull, Huddersfield and Lincoln are three medium-sized institutions in the north of England. Each University has a growing research portfolio and, like other universities, each has been active in supporting open access (OA) for many years. This has included playing an active role in the development of their local institutional repository, looking to exploit technology to further OA services.All three are institutions seeking to develop their research capability and reputation further through a number of internal and external projects. One such project was the Jisc Open Access Good Practice Pathfinder programme, 1 which runs from 2014-2016. The institutions successfully bid for funding in this programme as the HHuLOA (Hull, Huddersfield, Lincoln Open Access) project.2 The aim of the HHuLOA project was to identify how OA support mechanisms can be used to assist with the development of research, working towards a more effective and rewarding submission to the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). Working together, the three institutions have been able to bring a wealth of experience and innovative thinking to capturing existing and novel good practice. This has then been shared with the aim of supporting other institutions to develop their research capability and to use OA as a means of supporting this. · developing OA life cycles from different stakeholder perspectives · developing local repository systems to meet policy requirements · exploring how OA can be managed across institutional stakeholders, including research support offices · working with Jisc to inform development of services that meet institutional requirements · understanding how OA access might be embedded within e-resource management processes to aid local streamlining of workflows.Alongside these, the key area of OA policies merited attention, as the landscape was becoming ever more complex. This is an area where all three institutions were struggling to understand the various policies that existed and develop ways of communicating these to local academic audiences. This paper describes the work undertaken in this area, with the aim of enabling academic audiences to better navigate the policy environment they find ...

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) information environment aims to offer seamless and integrated access to a wide range of digital collections and resources through a common interface. Portals are a primary means through which such resources will be delivered to users, facilitating the discovery of information. Portals can deliver their functionality by embedding distinct portal services in Web environments familiar to the user, such as an institutional portal or virtual learning environment. Initial work on such embedding has started, though this promises to be a major area for future development.

In the field of academic publishing and the dissemination of research outputs, the advent of open access poses big questions. Will it mark the end of traditional journal publishing? How will research made available through open access be accessed by users, and what role will libraries play? What effect will it have on current journal purchasing arrangements? Open access allows authors to make their papers freely available to all, widening access to the outputs of research; this paper describes the open access movement, how the effects of this are being addressed, and what this will mean for publishers, librarians, and intermediaries. Open access is here to stay. It is a relatively immature process, though, and it is up to all parties involved to work together and establish new mutually acceptable models of publishing.

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